What are the Symptoms of the Disease?

CJD is characterized by rapidly progressive dementia. Initially, individuals
experience problems with muscular coordination; personality changes, including
impaired memory, judgment, and thinking; and impaired vision. People with the
disease also may experience insomnia, depression, or unusual sensations. CJD
does not cause a fever or other flu-like symptoms. As the illness progresses,
mental impairment becomes severe. Individuals often develop involuntary muscle
jerks called myoclonus, and they may go blind. They eventually lose the ability
to move and speak and enter a coma. Pneumonia and other infections often occur
in these individuals and can lead to death.

There are several known variants of CJD. These variants differ somewhat in
the symptoms and course of the disease. For example, a variant form of the
disease-called new variant or variant (nv-CJD, v-CJD), described in Great
Britain and France-begins primarily with psychiatric symptoms, affects younger
individuals than other types of CJD, and has a longer than usual duration from
onset of symptoms to death. Another variant, called the panencephalopathic form,
occurs primarily in Japan and has a relatively long course, with symptoms often
progressing for several years. Scientists are trying to learn what causes these
variations in the symptoms and course of the disease.

Some symptoms of CJD can be similar to symptoms of other progressive
neurological
disorders, such as Alzheimer's or
Huntington's disease. However, CJD causes
unique changes in brain tissue which can be seen at
autopsy. It also
tends to cause more rapid deterioration of a person's abilities than Alzheimer's
disease or most other types of dementia.